Scuderia Ferrari Admit that They Made a Mistake in their Concept

Ferrari have seemingly done the unthinkable… They have admitted that they made a mistake. Apparently, the revelation came on the back of being thoroughly humiliated at the Spanish Grand Prix. Even a new upgrade to the engine failed to yield any reward for them.

Later, when Ferrari issued team orders to swap a faster Charles LeClerc for a struggling Sebastian Vettel, the status quo remained. Now, in lieu of their misfortune, and Max Verstappen stealing a podium from under their noses, team boss Mattia Binotto has said that an investigation is in order.

Ferrari knew that they were slower in the corners, but became alarmed when Mercedes left them in the dust. It also seems that taking a different route to Mercedes, in the aero department has not paid off.

“We are losing a lot in each corner, not only in the last sector, it is each single corner we are slow,” said Binotto to Motorsport.com. “[There is] quite a lot of understeer. Is that only downforce or is it more than that? That is something that we really need to analyse and understand.

“Any conclusion today will be a wrong conclusion. It will take some days to really have a proper analysis and try to understand: is it a matter of balance, is it a matter of downforce, is it maybe even car concept? I don’t know. I think we do not have the answer and I would like not to go through it.”

Mattia Binotto

Back when Mercedes had their issues in testing, they surmised that a brand new concept would take months to work properly. While such a situation could frighten Ferrari, Binotto is confident that they can turn things around quickly.

The Ferrari boss continued, “I don’t think it is a disaster by the time that you are improving as a team. And as I often say, we are a young team, we are learning on a learning phase.”

“I think that in terms of process and methodology there is still much to learn and I am pretty happy by the time the team is improving. If it is a concept design then it obviously depends what it is, but I think there are things that you may address within a season.”

Meanwhile Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff offered his own inputs on his W10.

“I think it’s definitely an interesting thought, because when you see who was in the front in winter testing it’s very different to the ones that are in the front today – even if you look at the fights in the midfield,” he explained.

“It was two different aerodynamic concepts and maybe there is a certain truth in it. But then there is never one question and one answer in Formula 1, or a silver bullet that justifies good or bad performance. I think it is about developing the car, keeping the development slope high.”